Abstract:

Authentic leadership is an important concept gaining attention in the Western literature. The extent of presence of authentic leadership in Pakistani banking sector context and its outcomes are not studied much. In current study, the objective was to test the effects of authentic leadership on employee’s attitude (interpersonal trust). The context of the study was commercial banks in the city of Peshawar. Survey method is used to collect data from staff from five commercial banks branches (n=129). Descriptive statistics indicate that in the sample, the perception of authentic leadership including self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective was high. The level of interpersonal trust was also high. Regression analysis indicated that authentic leadership dimensions of self-awareness, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective had positive and significant influence on staff interpersonal trust. It is recommended that commercial banks should use authentic leadership style as a criteria during the recruitment, selection, training, performance management, and rewarding of managerial staff. Keywords: Authentic Leadership, Interpersonal Trust, Commercial Banks, Peshawar

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